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“Only after Israel honors promises”: Arafath |
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June 23, 2000
RAMALLAH (AP) - On the eve of a renewed U.S. mediation effort, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Thursday that a Mideast summit should only be convened in Washington after Israel honors its outstanding obligations.
The Palestinians demand that Israel carry out an additional troop pullback in the West Bank. The withdrawal was initially due Friday, but the Palestinians have agreed to a two-week extension, at the request of the United States.
U.S. President Bill Clinton's Mideast envoy, Dennis Ross, was en route to the region Thursday to evaluate prospects for a summit. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was to arrive here next Tuesday.
In a summit, Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak would try to work out the outlines of a peace treaty, including the terms of Palestinian statehood. The Palestinians have said the summit should be the last stage of negotiating an accord, due Sept. 13. The Israelis have said the results could be more modest.
Israel wants a summit to be held in the near future, saying lower-level negotiators have exhausted their options.
However, Arafat suggested Thursday that he would only agree to a summit after Israel has handed over more land, as promised.
"What is important is not a trilateral summit," Arafat said after a meeting in the West Bank town of Ramallah with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "What is important is the accurate and honest implementation of what has been signed. The summit comes after that."
Israel and the Palestinians were to have negotiated the scope of the additional West Bank withdrawal in recent months. However, Israel instead asked the Palestinians to forgo the pullback and focus on reaching a peace treaty.
The Palestinians have rejected the Israeli proposal, saying Israel should not be allowed to go back on previous commitments.
The chief Palestinian negotiator, Ahmed Qureia, said Arafat accepted the postponement of the pullback on condition that the United States guarantee its eventual implementation. Ross is expected to bring these guarantees with him, Qureia said.
A U.S. official declined comment Thursday. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Ross will meet the negotiating teams before holding separate talks with Barak and Arafat.
Meanwhile, four Palestinians were lightly injured by rubber-coated steel pellets fired by Israeli troops near the West Bank village of Kufr Qalil. Troops opened fire to stop two dozen Palestinians from removing a fence put up by Jewish settlers around a piece of land belonging to the village.
Majdi Alawneh, the head of the Israeli-Palestinian coordination office, said that he had an Israeli permission to remove the fence, and that the soldiers acted illegally.
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